FBI questions Orlando gunman's associates

The FBI has questioned a member of the Florida mosque attended by Omar Mateen, the man who shot 49 people to death at a gay nightclub, as new information surfaced revealing the killer had exhibited chronic behavioural problems during his youth.

In what was the first such known interview in connection with the nightclub shooting, two federal agents met with the man at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce mosque for about 30 minutes ahead of Friday prayers, according to Omar Saleh, a lawyer for the Council of American-Islamic Relations who sat in on the session.

"We were meeting with some agents," Saleh said, declining to identify the person interviewed. "They were asking questions relative to the incident that happened on Sunday."

Elsewhere, funerals and memorials were held around Florida and in Puerto Rico - home to many of the people killed.

Mourners hugged and wept after the burial of Kimberly Morris, 37, in Kissimmee, Florida, and family members of Angel Candelario-Padro, 28, embraced after his body was returned to his hometown of Guanica, Puerto Rico.

And further details about 29-year-old Mateen's background continue to emerge.

Transcripts and disciplinary records released on Friday showed Mateen was suspended at least 15 times during his school years, mostly in the eighth and ninth grades.

Omar Mateen, the man responsible for gunning down 49 people in Pulse nightclub in Orlando. ()

Related Articles

Two of those suspensions, within a week of each other in May of 2001, were listed as discipline for "fighting with injury" at Martin County High School.

Days after that second suspension, Mateen was transferred to Spectrum Junior-Senior High School, a dropout prevention centre.

He returned to Martin County High in January 2002, stayed there for another year, then withdrew from mainstream high school and enrolled instead in adult education classes until April 2003.

His academic performance was mixed, a combination of high grades and failing marks, in contrast to his mostly dismal report cards from elementary school.

President Barack Obama, who met with survivors of the shooting and families of the dead in Orlando on Thursday, has urged Congress to pass measures to make it harder to legally acquire high-powered weapons like the semi-automatic rifle used in the attack.

The Senate is expected to vote on Monday on four proposals for limited gun restrictions, although all four are expected to fail. A group of Republican senators attempted on Friday to craft compromise legislation that might stand a better chance of passing.